The Horne Smelter, a Glencore company, has announced a $500-million investment to improve its air quality over the next five years, reducing its arsenic emissions to 15 ng/m3.
“The investments we plan will make the Horne Smelter one of the world's lowest-emitting copper smelters,” says Glencore’s North American copper assets COO Claude Belanger.
The investment comprises three pillars, the first of which, named AERIS, entails modernising the smelter through cutting-edge technology. The company will re-engineer the copper transformation processes, add a high-capacity air cleaning system, construct a new energy-efficient casting wheel and finalise a larger transition zone between the smelter and the Notre-Dame district.
Improvements will be made to seven capture systems this year to accelerate emissions reduction until the new plant section is in operation in the summer of 2027.
Nine existing dust collectors will also be improved to optimise the facility for maximum emission reductions.
Since 2000, the Horne Smelter’s ambient arsenic emissions have been reduced by about 90%. The smelter, in Quebec, produces 210 000 t/y of copper and precious metals.